Leaders of the five major world powers visited India this year. Our editors make sense of it.

International relations is rarely computable in mathematical terms, so comparisons are essentially meaningless. The operating principle is a Marxist adage: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Barack Obama gave nothing except a vague promise of support for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which became even more vague the moment he left Indian skies.

Obama did not go to Pakistan, but there was no need to; Pakistan is constantlly by his side, and his administration has tacitly blessed the China-Pakistan nuclear deal. Wen dangled the prospect of $100 bn in trade, and then put in a sucker punch: lower, or no, tariffs when China has a surplus in the bilateral trade thanks to the Indian propensity for junk. Then he went off with a huge, $20bn hamper for Pakistan. Medvedev sold jet fighters but made India pay for his own country's military muscle. It might seem to the sceptic that a Christmas sale of Indian interests is driving world leaders to Delhi.

But state-to-state transactions are measured on more subtle scales. The non-event of the diplomatic year has been the China visit; Obama overdid the hype; Sarkozy was a neutral event. It is the Russia-India relationship which is likely to firm up into an unofficial partnership, particularly in the turbulence of Afghanistan and Central Asia.

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